CASE STUDY · COURSE + COMMERCE PLATFORM

Minnie Barker · Self Love Lab: a full course, shop, quiz, and blog platform for a women's empowerment brand.

Built to sell and deliver transformation — not just content. An 8-module, 24-lesson flagship course with progress tracking, 9-product digital shop, archetype quiz, long-form blog, and a full admin to manage every piece without touching code.

Frontend: React + TailwindBackend: FastAPI (Python)Database: MongoDBPayments: Stripe + PayPal (live + webhooks)Auth: JWT + Google OAuthCourse: 8 modules · 24 lessons · 72 PDFs
24
Course lessons
72
Branded PDFs
9
Digital products in shop
4-way
Archetype quiz

I built Minnie Barker · Self Love Lab. I also run Minnie Barker · Self Love Lab.

This isn't a client demo or a case-study teardown. It's a live production business I personally built, operate, and take real payments on — which is exactly why I can confidently build the same calibre of system for you. Every pitfall below has already been hit on my own money first.

  • Women's-empowerment brand I built end-to-end — design, copy, and code
  • Live Stripe + PayPal checkout on every course and product
  • 72 branded PDF resources produced, organized, and auth-protected
  • A real course-business platform — not a Kajabi lookalike with my name on it

A front door designed to convert, educate, and capture emails.

Every public page has a job: hook attention, build trust, deliver value upfront, and feed warm traffic into the quiz, shop, or flagship course.

  • Conversion-optimized homepage — pain-based headline, founder-photo trust block, lead magnet CTA, about + final transformation CTA
  • Flagship Course sales page with Module 1 free preview, clear pricing, Stripe + PayPal checkout
  • Course Preview (/preview/course/:id) — three free lessons from Module 1, no account required
  • Shop with 9 digital products (journals, workbooks, affirmation decks, planners, challenge guides) with Stripe + PayPal checkout
  • Blog — 9 long-form posts, 6 categories, Markdown rendering, individual post pages
  • Self-Love Quiz — archetype assessment (Drained · Awakening · Rebuilding · Becoming) with shareable results
  • Freebies page driving email capture via lead magnets
  • About · Start Here · Contact · FAQ static pages built for SEO + trust

Accounts, guest checkout, and social login — all of it.

The only thing worse than forcing an account on a buyer is losing their purchase record. This flow does both jobs: frictionless checkout for guests, and a real account the moment their payment clears.

  • Email + password register/login with JWT via secure HttpOnly cookies
  • Google OAuth social login
  • Forgot password + reset flow
  • Guest checkout — no account required to buy
  • Webhook auto-creates accounts for guest purchases and emails a temporary password

Every buyer gets a real library, not a receipt email.

Courses, downloads, quiz history, and progress — all in one branded dashboard so customers come back instead of emailing you asking for their download link.

  • My Courses tab — owned courses with % complete progress bars
  • My Downloads tab — purchased digital products with auth-protected download buttons
  • Quiz Results tab — history with retake option
  • Quick Stats — courses owned, downloads, quizzes taken

A complete LMS built to finish what Kajabi starts.

  • Full 8-module / 24-lesson flagship course ("Becoming Her: A Self-Love & Confidence Reset")
  • Per-lesson structure: Guided Intro → YouTube video → Written content → Key Takeaways → Reflect & Journal → 3 downloadable PDFs
  • Collapsible module sidebar with green checkmarks for completed lessons + per-module progress counts
  • Top bar showing overall course completion % with live progress bar
  • Mark-as-complete toggle per lesson with Previous / Next navigation
  • Module-ending affirmation screens to reinforce transformation
  • 72 branded PDF resources across all lessons, auth-protected

Live money, handled end-to-end.

  • Stripe LIVE checkout for credit/debit
  • PayPal LIVE checkout
  • Branded thank-you page post-purchase
  • Upsell page cross-selling digital products after course purchase
  • Stripe + PayPal webhooks wire up purchase records automatically
  • Duplicate-purchase prevention built in

Every module, product, post, and testimonial — editable in a click.

No code required. Nested module-lesson editor, Markdown blog, product uploader, and transaction dashboard. The creator owns the content flow completely.

  • Dashboard — total users, courses, products, subscribers, revenue, recent transactions
  • Courses CRUD — create, edit, delete courses with nested module/lesson editor
  • Per-lesson editing: title, content, video URL, guided intro, key takeaways, reflection prompt, duration, resources
  • Products CRUD — create, edit, delete digital products (title, price, category, description, file)
  • Blog CRUD with auto-slug generation, categories, tags, featured images, excerpts, Markdown editor
  • Subscribers management for email capture
  • Testimonials management to curate social proof
  • Entire content operation runs without touching code

Four pricing tiers. One funnel. Zero leaks.

Free

Blog, quiz, freebies — builds the email list that feeds everything else.

Low-ticket

9 digital products that impulse-convert quiz + blog traffic.

Flagship course

24-lesson signature program with a real LMS delivering real transformation.

Upsells

Post-purchase page recovers revenue buyers would have walked away from.

Coaches, creators, educators — your course business can live here.

If you sell transformation — courses, workbooks, memberships, cohorts — this is the pattern. Fully owned platform, live payment processing, branded buyer dashboard, and a CMS you control. No 10% Kajabi tax forever.